Aussie Finch Forum

Hi everyone,
One of my Melaleucas in an aviary has a really bad case of webbing caterpillar.....I was wondering if anyone has any tips for dealing with them?
Its a young plant, only 2 years old, currently the aviary has no birds in it.
Thanks, Painted4

I have had something like that with Leptospermum (teatrees). I have found that keeping the soil area around the stem dry has helped me control it, if it's the same thing. I think the dampness seems to promote this webbing.
Tom

We usually have an outbreak of this annually in our big lilac tree. Memory says it is in warm dry weather. Nothing this year (so far) so maybe the wetter than usual weather has made a difference? But we have heavily sprayed the ground arround the base of the tree with Coopex for the past 2 years, as we understand the eggs are laid in the soil beneath the tree and that doing this will kill the hatchlings.
LML

Yeah, its been really dry around here lately, i'll have to give it a spray and hope for the best, the poor plant has taken a beating.
As its such a young plant still, the root system is pretty small, so I don;t know how i'd water it without getting the area around the stem wet